The Miracles of America
by lysgurl
Summary: Rumors have been spreading of a new basketball team rising in Japan. They are said to have two powerful players: brothers Charlie and Chris that recently moved from America. Riko, excited as ever to strengthen Seirin's team, sets up a practice game with the new team, Kasai Academy. Everyone at Seirin is pumped for the game, but Kuroko has a bad feeling about the new team.
1. Enter: Kasai Academy

Monday, Seirin High School, 5 P.M.

Kagami felt his skin prickle as he anticipated the next shrill shriek of the coach's whistle. He looked to his left and saw the rest of the boys were sweating as much as him. However, in the line of weary basketball players, Kagami couldn't see the familiar boy with chalk blue hair.

Angrily, Kagami thought, _did he skip out of conditioning?_

The next whistle came from Riko's mouth, and the line composed of Seirin High School's basketball team sprinted for the end line ahead of them. First to arrive was Kagami, but he was shortly followed by Hyuuga. Kagami quickly pivoted off the line and made a line-drive back for the spot he had started at seconds ago. His breaths came out sporadically, and streams of sweat poured out from his body.

Kagami reached the starting line and slowed his run down to a walk. He began to pace back and forth as he put his arms over his head, just like Coach would want. The others soon joined him back at the line and did the same.

Before they knew it, Riko's lips were back on the whistle. They rushed back to the line, but instead of the usual single _beep!_ to signal the beginning of another set of sprints, there were two loud shrieks.

"Thank God," one of the boys muttered, wiping the sweat off his face.

Conditioning was over. Finally.

Kagami walked towards Coach to hear what she had to say before practice came to an end when a cool voice from below him spoke.

"That was exhausting."

Kagami slowly turned his head down and saw directly on his right side Kuroko was panting.

"Where did you come from?" Kagami exclaimed.

"I've been here the whole time," Kuroko said, his voice level even though he looked like he was on the brink of passing out.

Kagami would never be able to get over how unnerving it was for Kuroko to simply vanish from sight and reappear whenever he decided to unmask himself. Though he was a large reason why Seirin was as successful as they were, Kuroko's power of temporary invisibility was annoying at times like these.

The team made their way towards Riko and formed a semi-circle around her. At her feet was Number 2, so Kagami decided to stay towards the back. Unfortunately, the dog caught sight of Kuroko and ducked through the crowd of boys. Once arriving at Kuroko's feet, Kuroko leaned over and picked the blasted canine up. Kagami stepped away as Kuroko began to scratch Number 2's head.

"Keep that dog away from me," Kagami warned.

Kuroko continued to pet the dog. "He won't hurt you."

"You don't know that!" Kagami yelled.

Another scream came from the whistle, calling the two boys away from the situation of Number 2 and back to Coach.

"Good work today, boys," Riko began. "I know the conditioning might've been too much, but we need you all in top shape. According to my plan, tomorrow, we'll be focusing on core. The day after that will be weight-training."

Hushed groans surfaced in the crowd but Hyuuga silenced them immediately. "Hey, if you guys don't want to listen to the coach's instructions, I guess you don't want to win."

Kiyoshi laughed as Hyuuga pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and glared at all those who sounded upset about the workouts ahead of them. "You don't need to sound so threatening. I'm sure everyone is just tired."

"Stop smiling so much," Hyuuga said, but the other boy's smile grew bigger in response.

As Hyuuga's hand went to strike Kiyoshi across the head, Riko blew her whistle again. The boys went silent, and Hyuuga dropped his hand back to his side.

"You guys are really rowdy today," she said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. She brought her clipboard up and lifted the first sheet of paper up. Pulling the second paper out, she handed it to Hyuuga. "We have something important to talk about."

Hyuuga read over the paper—a newspaper article that had come out yesterday—while those around him looked over his shoulder to get a better look at it. Hyuuga tried to shield it, but it was useless as several heads crammed themselves next to his.

Before Hyuuga could even finish reading, Koga asked, "Kasai Academy beat Kaijō?"

Hyuuga pulled the paper against his chest to hide it from all the curious eyes. "Wait for me to finish!"

But a dark figure stood in front of Hyuuga, extending out his hand towards the paper.

"Give that to me," Kagami demanded.

"Hold on," Hyuuga pleaded, but Kagami snatched the paper out of his in a blink of an eye.

Hyuuga gave up on trying to keep the paper a secret until he was done reading it and didn't try to take it back.

"At least read it out loud," Hyuuga requested.

Kagami nodded his head and began to read the article.

"This Saturday, a friendly game between the nationally-ranked basketball team, Kaijō High, went head-to-head against the recently formed basketball team from Kyoto, Kasai Academy. Though Kaijō is known for their high-level of playing thanks to their ace, Kise Ryōta, a member of the Generation of Miracles, they lost in a nail-biting game of 83-84, with Kasai being the victor. Kasai's victory can be found in the siblings that just moved from America two months ago. Chris Arson, a power forward for Kasai that accumulated half of Kasai's points, and Charlie Arson, their extremely strong center that got 90% of the game's total rebounds, are prophesized to compare to the Generation of Miracles. They will be having an exhibition game on Friday evening against…" Kagami looked up at the coach as his eyes widened. "Seirin High School!"

Riko lifted her nose in the air and smiled dramatically. "I contacted the coach last night after hearing about the game from my dad on Saturday evening, and he wants to play us as badly as we want to play them. We agreed to play on Friday as a game purely for fun."

Kagami laughed and crunched the paper up in his fist. "Like hell it'll be 'purely for fun.' We are going to crush them."

"Don't ruin the article!" Hyuuga yelled.

Kagami tossed the crumpled paper back at Hyuuga and broadly smiled. "Thanks, Coach, for setting up this game. I can't wait!"

Riko nodded appreciatively. "But just so you guys know, if Kasai is capable of beating a Generation of Miracles, this won't be some kind of walk in the park."

"I know," Kagami said. "That's why I'm so excited. If those brothers from Kasai could beat Kise, I want to know just how strong they are."

"They must be monsters," Kuroko added quietly.

"Kuroko's right," Izuki said. "Remember when Kise played against Aomine. He had been able to duplicate Aomine's style of play, and even if he had lost that game, it had been terrifying to witness."

"Kise is a skilled copycat," Kuroko said, "but even then he couldn't beat the Arson brothers."

"We've beaten Kise before, though our victory could be seen as a stroke of luck," Riko said. "I'm sure you guys can win."

"We will," Kagami said, a determined edge in his voice. "Seirin will show these American newbies the strength of Japan."

Monday, Kasai Academy, 5 P.M.

Chris smiled as he leaped over his opponent with ease and slammed the ball into the net. His hands clasped onto apple red rim of the basket, and he swung back and forth for several seconds, reveling on how impressive of a player he was.

He dropped back down and wiped his sweaty hands on his shorts.

"Nice dunk!" one of his teammates called.

"I know," Chris said. "Passing to me all the time really does pay off."

One of the other first-years at Kasai nodded. "It does."

In Kasai's scrimmage with the first-years playing the upperclassmen, the score was at a steady 40-34 with the first-years winning. Chris and everyone else in the room knew that if Charlie had been here and on the team of first-years, the upperclassmen's score would've been doubled in the first quarter. No one dared to say that though.

The upperclassmen began their counter-attack when the coach yelled for them to stop.

The players remained on the court, unaware of what they had done wrong.

"What is it, Coach?" asked Shiki, Kasai's captain.

"Chris, those kind of shots won't work on Seirin."

Chris felt his anger rise as soon as the coach's words were out of his mouth. "What? That dunk was perfect."

"Seirin has an exceptional jumper named Kagami Taiga. He'd be able to block that wimpy dunk without exerting much strength. You need either need to dunk it faster or just shot with a good arc."

Chris turned away from the coach as he told the boys to continue their game. The upperclassmen continued their counterattack, and Chris stonily watched as Shiki got an excellent three-pointer that arched high enough in the air that no one could've possibly knocked it off its path.

"Great shot, Shiki!" the coach exclaimed. "Those are the shots we want against Seirin."

Chris growled as the captain got the compliment he was desperate for.

"Pass me the ball!" Chris yelled as a first-year picked up the ball.

The ball went through an expert passing sequence before finding its way into Chris's hands. Immediately, an upperclassman was in front of him, tightly defending one of the two aces of the team.

Chris rolled his eyes and dribbled the ball between his legs then faked left. The defender swung to block Chris but was left in the dust as Chris drove down the court. Another defender came up, but Chris blazed past this one in microseconds.

"He's so fast," a first-year said, in awe of the American boy.

"But Charlie's faster," another first-year said.

Shiki, who was standing nearby, sharply elbowed the first-year in the ribs, making him yelp.

"Don't compare Chris to Charlie," Shiki warned. "I thought you'd know that by now."

"I'm sorry, Captain," the first-year said, rubbing the spot Shiki had hit.

Shiki smirked and looked down the court in time to see Chris fake out the third defender in a row and take a three-point jump shot. He had barely gotten in the air when he released the ball, tossing it in the air at a ridiculously un-proportional angle, but Shiki knew better than to underestimate Chris.

The ball soared through the basket's net, turning the game to 43-37.

Chris clenched his fist at his amazing shot. "Hell, yeah."

"That's the one!" the coach yelled. "Great fix, Chris."

Chris anticipated for the ball to return to him so he could replicate the shot he had just made. He needed to make sure he perfected the shot with a quick release and high angle. That way Seirin's stupid Kagami Taiga would have no chance against Kasai.

"I'll be the death of Seirin," Chris said, already looking forward to see the look of defeat on his opponents faces after Friday's game.

**Thanks for reading the first chapter! I hope you keep going (it gets better haha). Please leave any reviews, whether you thought it was awful or decent or whatnot. This is my first fanfic so I'm a newbie. All rights to the creators of Kuroko no Basketball. All the awesome characters belong to them except for Kasai, the Arson brothers, and Shiki. Image credits also to Tadatoshi Fujimaki **


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Friday, Seirin High School, 3 P.M.

Seirin's boys' locker room was as lively as ever as the entire basketball team changed into their white uniforms.

"Did you see Kasai's team when they walked into the school?" Koga asked, as he pulled his loose shorts up to his waist. "I tried looking for the Arson brothers, but most of them had their hoods up."

"Yeah, that was pretty shady," Izuki said. He thought back to Kasai's fourteen-man team that stormed throughout the halls of Seirin High before Riko had kindly showed them to where they'd be getting ready: the women's locker room. All but one of them had had their hoods up. The one who didn't had deep purple hair that was on the verge of being black. Izuki silently wondered if it had been Charlie or Chris.

"Maybe they're afraid?" Tsuchida asked, hopeful.

"No, they aren't afraid."

All members of the team snapped their heads to where the voice originated from and gaped at the wide-eyed boy that stood in the center of the locker. Kuroko was already dressed in his uniform, and a black sweatband was on each of his wrists. If he had been in there long enough to change, how could everyone have possibly missed him?

"Would you quit doing that?" Kagami yelled, still standing in front of his locker without a shirt.

"Doing what?" Kuroko asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Appearing out of nowhere with some cryptic comment," Kagami said. He lowered his voice and tried to keep it at a methodic tempo. "'No, they aren't afraid.'"

Kuroko wasn't amused by Kagami's pathetic imitation of him and continued to speak. "I don't have a good feeling about Kasai."

The members of the locker room went silent and stared at the small first-year. Their buzzing excitement dulled as they felt Kuroko's dark aura seep into them.

"What do you mean, Kuroko?" Hyuuga asked.

"There's something off about them."

"Well, if they hide their faces from all of us, of course they don't seem very welcoming." Kagami raised his eyebrow as he looked over Kuroko. "Are you sure it wasn't just that that has you all anxious."

"No. It's something bad."

No one dared to speak as Kuroko looked off in to space, silent as he thought over the mysterious fourteen members of Kasai Academy. He couldn't figure out what exactly was making his stomach do backflips, but it had to do something with Kasai. He'd know soon enough, though, because the game started in less than an hour.

Kagami slapped his hand on Kuroko's back, shocking the boy back into the real world. "Hey, stop being all superstitious. You sound like Midorima right now. If you're basing this feeling off the Osa-Aha horoscope—"

"I'm not," Kuroko said, cutting the brooding red-headed off. Kuroko put his hand on his stomach and ensnared his fingers in his jersey. "My body is telling me that something's off."

Kagami didn't know how to respond to this, but Riko saved him from having to. Seirin's coach, uncaring of whether she walked into a room of half-naked boys, slammed the locker room's door open.

"What's taking you guys so long? Kasai is already warming up!"

Hyuuga realized the time had soared by ever since Kuroko mentioned his bad feeling and wanted to hit himself in the head. He was the team's captain! He was the one in charge of keeping everyone in check and making sure they were on time and ready to play. It was his own fault for not telling Kuroko to calm down the moment he had spoken up. Now the team was all spooked by Kuroko's chilling foreboding and late for their warm-ups.

"We'll be right out, Coach," Hyuuga said. "Sorry."

Riko looked over all the boys and shook her head, swaying her short, orange hair side-to-side. "Be quick."

The door closed as Riko departed, and Hyuuga clapped his hands together to capture the attention of all his teammates.

"Hey, I have something to say."

Kiyoshi came to Hyuuga's side, his uncanny smile stuck on his face.

"Go ahead, Captain."

Hyuuga's eye twitched as he glared at the gleaming center but continued to speak. "I want you all to forget about whatever bad feeling you have about today. This game is just for practice, though I'm certain we all want to win. The competition may be tough, but I know if we play like how we did against Kise or Aomine or Midorima or any of the other Generation of Miracles, we will win. Now, let's go warm up and kick Kasai's asses!"

"Yeah!" the locker room cheered.

Those who weren't completely dressed pulled on their shirts and followed the rest of the team as they filed out to the gym. Last to exit was Kuroko, who was staring down at his grumbling stomach. He had eaten at his usual time before games, meeting up with Kagami at the local restaurant. Though Kagami had eaten less than half of his usual amount, it still was more than Kuroko could ever imagine eating in one sitting.

'_The bad feeling can't be powerful enough to make me sick,_' Kuroko thought. '_Maybe I'm being too overdramatic._'

Kuroko left the locker room and followed behind his teammates as they sauntered down to the gym. He had always believed in Seirin and knew they were capable of doing whatever they set their mind to. But then why? Why was his faith at an all-time low today?

Taking a steady breath, Kuroko focused on the back of Kagami's jersey, surveying the number 10 in extreme detail. If Kagami wasn't worried about the game, then Kuroko couldn't be either. He was Kagami's shadow, and if he wanted to make his light shine during today's game, he'd have to focus on nothing but Seirin's future victory against Kasai.

Finally getting ahold of himself, the painful spinning in Kuroko's stomach disappeared, and he quickly strode forward to stand next to Kagami. Neither boys said a word to each other, but the tenseness in Kagami's shoulders seemed to disappear after he caught said of Kuroko's pale blue hair.

Unfortunately, Kuroko was right about his feeling, and by the end of Seirin's game against Kasai, Seirin High School's basketball team would understand why a cloud of darkness had been looming over Kuroko ever since he saw the hidden figure of number thirteen on Kasai's team.


	3. Number Thirteen

**Friday, Seirin High School, 3:55 P.M.**

Kagami looked over his shoulder as Seirin finished up their usual warm-up. The team started making their way towards the bench to hear the line up and take in their last sips of water before game start. However, Kagami was stuck where he stood, staring down number thirteen in Kasai's fiery red uniforms. Though number thirteen had his jersey on, underneath it he had an over-sized white sweatshirt. The hood was drawn up, completely obscuring the player.

Everyone else at Kasai had reverted back to normal wear and showed their faces to Seirin. All except for number thirteen.

Kagami extended his hand out to Kuroko, who had chosen to hang back with his friend.

"Give me the ball," Kagami demanded.

Kuroko handed it over. "Why?"

Kagami, too infuriated by the hidden player, didn't answer and threw the ball with all the speed he could muster. The ball soared across the court, making a line-drive for number thirteen, just as the player was leaping for a jump shot.

"Look out!" someone from Kasai yelled, but the warning was unnecessary.

Number thirteen tossed the ball at the basket and came down on his feet. The ball he had shot swooshed through the basket, but his back was turned from his excellent shot.

Kagami was shocked to see number thirteen whip around towards the ball driving at him. He snapped out his arm and caught the spinning ball in the palm of his hand. Though number thirteen's hood provided utter darkness around his face, Kagami got a glimpse of a candy-apple green eye piercing at his chest.

"Kagami!" Hyuuga screamed from the bench.

"Sorry," Kagami lied, "the ball must've slipped out of my hands."

A deep purple-haired guy on Kasai came next to number thirteen. His mauve eyes were transfixed on Kagami, but his hands grabbed for the ball in number thirteen's hands. "Charlie, I think you've warmed up enough. Go ahead and take your stuff off."

Kagami felt a bolt of lightning race through him. '_So,_' he thought, '_number thirteen is one of the Arson brothers._'

Charlie released the ball and allowed the purple-haired guy to take it from him. As Charlie disappeared to Kasai's bench, Purple Brain started making his way over to Kagami.

With the same amount of speed Kagami had sent the ball at Charlie, Purple Brain returned the ball. Kagami had no problem catching it, considering he was capable of catching Kuroko's Ignite Pass Kai, but he felt his fingertips sting.

"I hope you are ready to fall, Seirin," Purple Brain said.

"Like hell we will," Kagami bantered back. "I can't wait to see you guys go back to Kyoto with your tails in between your legs."

"Ah, such stupidity," Purple Brain muttered under his breath. Louder, he added, "I'm Haruhi Shiki, captain of Kasai's basketball team."

"While introductions are going, I'm Taiga Kagami." Kagami put his hand down on Kuroko's back and shoved him forward. "And this is Tetsuya Kuroko, the phantom sixth member of the Generation of Miracles."

Shiki's eyebrows drew together. "Who?"

Then Shiki at last took in the boy standing next to Kagami. Shiki leaped a step back and cowered away from the pale boy.

"When did you get there?"

Kuroko gave Shiki an even look. "I was here all along."

"Kagami! Kuroko!" Riko called. "The game starts in two minutes!"

"Coming," Kagami hollered. He directly faced Shiki and glared at their opponent's captain. "I won't lose."

Shiki grinned. "Well, that's too bad, because our own American Miracles don't lose either."

Shiki began to walk off, and Kagami took a threatening step forward. Kuroko snatched the hot-headed boy by the nape of his shirt and pulled him back. Kagami looked down and took in Kuroko's steady gaze. He felt his boiling blood cool and turned to go join the rest of the team at the bench.

"Oh," Shiki added, stopping dead in his tracks. Kagami and Kuroko looked back at the captain and saw a sadistic smile lit up his face. "And don't try hurting Charlie again. That's only for us to do."

"Huh?" Kagami asked, but Shiki had dropped the conversation and walked to Kasai's bench.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko said quietly. "The team's waiting on us."

"I know," Kagami muttered. He clenched his fists and stormed over to Seirin's bench.

As he arrived, Hyuuga screamed, "What were you thinking?"

"You shouldn't risk doing stupid things like that," Riko warned. "If number thirteen hadn't been fast enough to catch that ball, I would've sat you out the whole first half."

"You can't be serious, Coach!" Kagami yelled. After his altercation with Shiki and Charlie, he needed to play. If he didn't, the rage inside of him would overflow.

"You didn't hurt number thirteen, so you'll play," Riko said. In a harder tone, she added, "But if you purposely foul anyone on Kasai, you're out."

"I'd never do that," Kagami said, as he thought back to Seirin's game against Kirisaki Daiichi. He would never, ever play like Hanamiya and his team. Just thinking about the game made his stomach sick. "I'm not like the vermin of Kirisaki."

"Good," Riko said, using her smile to lighten up the mood. "Because that's not how our team plays."

The team grunted in agreement and looked at their coach for the line-up, but Kuroko chimed in a quick comment.

"Coach?"

"Yes?"

"Number thirteen is Charlie Arson. That's all."

Riko moved her head so she was looking past her own team. Down Kasai's bench, Riko was unable to find number thirteen anymore. She drew her eyebrows together and returned back to the team talk.

"Kiyoshi, during their warm-ups I noticed number thirteen, which we now know as Charlie, was a couple inches shorter than you. Use your height advantage to win the rebounds for us."

A brilliant smile illuminated Kiyoshi's face. "Yes, Coach!"

Riko turned to the regular starters. "Hyuuga, Izuki, Kuroko, and Kagami, this may just be a practice game, but I expect you to play like it counts."

"We will!" the four stated.

Just in time, the ref of the game blew his whistle. "Both teams, line up."

The five starters got up from the bench and prepared to take the court, but Riko had one more thing to point out.

"Kagami?"

Kagami looked down at his coach and waited to her what her advice for him was.

"You'll be in the same position as Chris Arson. If he and his brother are rumored to be as good as the Generation of Miracles, I need you to stay focused. Don't let your emotions get the better of you."

"Sure thing," Kagami said. He walked out to the center line and stood in between Hyuuga and Kuroko. Kasai was still having their team talk, so the ref blew his whistle again and called for their starters to line up.

Kasai's team broke up, and Kagami immediately caught sight of Shiki. Kagami was aware of a gasp that left Hyuuga's mouth, but he couldn't pay attention to anything except the cocky Purple Brain.

Shiki came onto the court alongside the other Kasai starters, none of which Kagami paid mind to. He was well-aware that Shiki was madly grinning at him, like he was going to pull some kind of twisted joke on Kagami at any second.

Kasai reached the center line, and Kagami's eyes left Shiki to focus on the guy in front of him. Chris Arson stood in front of Kagami, a similar grin to Shiki's on his face. He stood at the same height as Kagami, though that's where the similarities between the two boys ended. Though Kagami had been raised in America, he was born Japanese. Meanwhile, Chris had the round eyes of an American with bright green hues. His light blond carelessly fell in front of his forehead, and his perspiring body was a faded tan.

In perfect English, Chris said, "Don't be sad when we win."

Kagami returned in his heavily-accented English, "We won't lose."

"We'll see about that, Taiga."

The ref spoke before Kagami could growl something back. "Welcome each other."

Both teams bowed forward and said, "Thanks for the game," when Kagami caught a voice that sounded extremely different than the others. While all the voices had been deep and masculine, one had been higher and more soothing.

Kagami leaned up from his bow and glanced down the line of Kasai players when he found number thirteen standing directly in front of Kiyoshi.

"Charlie…" Izuki began.

"Is…" Kiyoshi continued.

"A…" Hyuuga added.

"Girl?" Kagami finished, taking in the green-eyed, six-foot girl standing before Seirin.


	4. Fire Star Formation!

**Friday, Seirin High School, 3:59 P.M.**

Every starter at Kasai was thrown off at Seirin's utter shock as they looked Charlie up and down. Hyuuga felt his cheek sting as he took in the tall, full-American girl in front of Kiyoshi. Her hair, which was an auburn hue unlike her brother's, was pulled up in a ponytail, but the hair that she kept back was additionally braided down her back. She had eyes that reminded him of freshly-cut grass. They weren't as sharp as Chris's eyes, but the color was almost exactly the same. Overall, she wasn't a half-bad looking girl. He found himself wondering what she looked like outside of a boys' basketball uniform. It completely hid her figure.

"You didn't know she was a girl?" Shiki asked.

The five boys of Seirin shook their heads slowly. "No."

Izuki looked over Charlie and noted that she was as tall as him. Underneath her red jersey, her long arms were corded with lean, feminine muscle. Though she was shorter and not as broad as her brother, she didn't look like a mediocre basketball player at all.

"Is she allowed to play?" Izuki asked.

"Why couldn't she?" Shill asked. In a taunting tone, he added, "Are you afraid to lose to a girl?"

"No!" Izuki exclaimed, not wanting to come off as a sexist tool. Though he knew there were plenty of great female basketball players, he had never played against any in high school. He didn't know how to react with not only an attractive girl playing against him, but a really skilled player that had beaten a Generation of Miracles.

To attempt to justify for his question, he added, "I just... I don't want to see her get her."

Kasai's line burst with laughter as Izuki went silent, but Charlie reacted differently. A faint smile appeared on her face and she sympathetically stared at Izuki.

"If I'm going to get hurt, it won't be because of you guys."

The laughter from Kasai died in an instant, and Charlie's four teammates glared down at her. She didn't look to them, but her shoulders sagged down and her shimmering eyes flickered to the polished wooden floor.

The ref his whistle, signaling the players to go to their starting spots for the tip-off.

Kiyoshi remained at the center line while everyone else at Seirin spread out. As they got to their spots, Kuroko said, "It's the two of them."

"What?" Kagami asked. He followed Kuroko's mundane gaze and found the player that had captivated it.

"Purple Brain?"

Kuroko nodded his head. "And the Arson brother."

"Chris? What about Charlie?"

Kuroko frowned. "No. It's only the captain and Chris. They are the ones that give off a bad feeling."

"Well, we'll figure out why soon enough," Kagami growled as the ball was tossed into the air.

Kiyoshi and Charlie leaped up and extended their arms to send the ball to their own team. Kagami felt his body tenses as he anticipated the ball to come to Seirin's side.

Kasai watched in shock as Kiyoshi got higher than Charlie and tossed the ball back to Hyuuga, who easily handled the ball and brought it to the ground.

The defense on Kasai was swift to cover, though, so one of the large bodies from Kasai appeared and blocked the view in front of him.

"Look, Kuroko!" Izuki yelled.

Hyuuga's eyes darted to left, and he caught sight of Kuroko free of his mark.

"Kuroko, go!" Hyuuga yelled as he sent the ball to the baby blue boy.

The ball spun at Kuroko, and all of Kasai's players, playing or on the bench, watched in confusion as the ball grazed off of the invisible player's fingertips and flew to the prepared red-head at front.

Kagami seized the ball and started dribbling to the open basket. '_I'm going to start this game off right!_'

Kagami got a good grip on the ball and jumped forward. A dunk. There wouldn't be any better way to begin the game and send Shiki and the Arson siblings and all of Kasai the message that Seirin was his as good as all the other high schools with members of the Generation of Miracles.

A beastly yell came from Kagami as he shoved the ball down the nooses of the basket and clasped his fingers on the rim. There was a creak from the basket, and Kagami anxiously waited to see if the rim would tear right off the back like it had in the Kaijo game. After hanging there for a silent moment, he realized the basket would remain secure and dropped down to his feet.

"Did you see that?" a Kasai player on the bench asked. "He practically jumped from the free throw line to the basket!"

"How did the ball even get to him?" another questioned.

The coach stroked his goatee and surveyed Seirin's power forward. He had heard rumors about him, but he hadn't revealed its entirety to his team. Taiga Kagami, as the coach had feared, was like one of those monsters from the Generation of Miracles. On top of that there was still Seirin's phantom, the shadow of the Generation of Miracles, Tetsuya Kuroko. With such powerful members in addition to the infamous Iron Heart, Teppei Kiyoshi, the talented clutch shooter, Junpei Hyuuga, and the gifted-eagle eye, Shun Izuki, this game would be as challenging as Kasai's against Kaijō.

Kasai's coach knew what had to be done. He found the eyes of the team's third-year captain and gave him a slight nod. Shiki understood at once and went to retrieve the ball Kagami had just dunked.

On the other bench, Riko was grinning while the rest of the bench cheered.

"Nice pass, Kuroko!" Koga called. "And great finish, Kagami!"

"Keep up the good work, boys," Riko said sternly. "Get on the defense."

Kagami jogged back to Kuroko, slapping the smaller boy on the back.

"Use your misdirection as long as you can."

"Mhm," Kuroko murmured.

Kagami went behind Chris and kept close as Hyuuga was in charge of Charlie since Kiyoshi had gone up for Shiki.

Chris, annoyed by their close proximity, shoved back into Kagami before darting forward, trying to get away from him. Kagami had no problem following the American to his new spot and returning back to his intense pressure.

Shiki picked up the ball and stood on the end line, noticing that every member of his team was being heavily defended, and gave out a heavy sigh. "I didn't want to do this so early, but it's what Coach wants. Anyway, I'm too anxious to get this game going."

Kasai looked to their captain and grinned as they realized what he was going to say next.

"Kasai!" Shiki yelled. "Fire Star Formation!"


	5. Kise

**Friday, Kaijō High School, 3:30 P.M.**

Kise Ryōta felt his cellphone buzz deep within in his pocket and giggled. He had just gotten out of basketball practice, but during that time, his frivolous fangirls had sent him hundreds of messages, protesting their undying love for him. His phone had been slowly receiving the messages, lagging thanks to the abundance of messages. The thought that he had such dedicated and loving fans made him smile.

"What are you so happy about?" Kasamatsu yelled, shoving his foot into the ass of the talented first-year.

Kise grabbed his now stinging butt and sulked. "Owwww! Kasamatsucchi, why'd you do that?"

"We just had one of the hardest practices of our lives," Kasamatsu yelled, pointing at the locker room's door leading to the gym. Sweat was seeping out from his pours by the buckets, and he was breathing like he had just finished a marathon. "We ran for an hour straight and then scrimmaged the rest of the time. How do you have the strength left to be happy?"

Kise's phone rang again and he pulled it out. He flipped open his lively device and shoved it towards his friend. "I have to be happy when I keep on getting messages from my fangirls!"

Kasamatsu was about to slap Kise's phone right out from his hand when he saw a vaguely familiar name appear on the screen.

"Momoi," Kasamatsu read the contact name. "Why does that ring a bell?"

Kise snapped the phone away and faced it to himself. "Momoicchi?"

Reading the contact name, he saw that it had really been a text from Momoicchi. He scrolled through his hundreds of messages and opened hers.

**Call me.**

Was it possible that she was trying to deal with Aominecchi and his constant mood swings? Kise hadn't seen his deep blue-haired friend for a while and found that he missed his monotone voice and pessimistic views.

Kise turned away from Kasamatsu and dialed Momoicchi as fast as he could.

The other line rang for less than a second before she picked up.

"Kise-kun." She sounded frantic.

"Hello, Momoicchi!" Kise exclaimed, louder than necessary.

"Keep your voice down, idiot," Kasamatsu growled.

"Kise-kun, Kuroko-kun is playing them right now," Momoicchi said.

"Who?" Kise asked. Seirin should've been on a break right now. There weren't any tournaments going on. Whoever they were playing had to be a part of a practice game.

"Kasai."

Kise felt his arm hair rise, and his smile disappeared. "Momoicchi, are you sure?"

"Aomine-kun was buying a magazine on some idol this morning when he stumbled upon an old newspaper article. He just mentioned it to me now because he's an idiot, but the article mentioned that your school lost to Kasai Academy. The article ended by saying Kasai will be playing Seirin today."

Kise thought back to their recent game against Kasai and how terrible it had been. It wasn't their pure strength that gave Kise chills just imagining it. Something had been off about Kasai, and it wasn't just because their stronger player was a girl.

"Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi can handle them," Kise said, though he was uncertain. "And Momoicchi, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Why'd you have to call me about this?"

"Oh, uh, well… I thought that maybe you'd like to go see Seirin play Kasai. I know you just lost to Kasai, and it's weird for you to go cheer for an ex-teammate and present rival, but Aomine-kun refuses to go with me. I need information on Kasai, before we have to play them."

"So you want me to go watch a practice game with you?"

Momoicchi's voice grew louder and more vivacious. "Please, please, Kise-kun. I don't want to go all alone, and I haven't seen you from the opposite bench for a while. For old time's sake, will you try to meet me up at Seirin as soon as you can?"

"Hmm," Kise wondered out loud. It would be fun to be with Momoicchi, and he always loved to see Kurokocchi play that amazing way he did. And maybe, just maybe, if he went to the game, he could uncover the sickening feeling Kasai gave him. "I'll be at Seirin in a little over half an hour."

"AH YAY!" Momoicchi screamed into phone so loudly that Kise had to remove it from his ear.

Kise smiled at his old friend's enthusiasm. "Text me when you get to Seirin."

"Mhm," Momoicchi said. "Thank you, Kise-kun. Bye."

"Bye, Momoicchi," Kise called as the line went dead.

Kise shoved his phone into his bag and quickly began to change out of his practice clothes. Kasamatsu watched in awe as the boy transformed himself into his model-esque self in less than twenty seconds.

"I hope none of my fans see my like this." Kise held up his white shirt, peering at a stain that wasn't there. "I look awful."

"Shut up," Kasamatsu groaned. "Anyway, what was that about? I heard something about Kasai and Seirin playing each other."

Kise swung his bag over his shoulder and nodded his head. "Yes, they are in less than an hour. I have to get to Seirin as quick as I can."

"Wa-wait! You're going to watch them?"

Kise smiled as he opened the locker room's door. "Might as well. I have all that extra energy from our easy practice. See you, Kasamatsucchi!"

Kise closed the door behind him, and Kasamatsu, still dressed in his practice wear, clenched his fists as he thought over how obnoxious Kise was. But he couldn't blame the first-year for wanting to see Seirin play Kasai. It had to be a good game, especially since Kasai had…

Shivers went through Kasamatsu's body, and he swallowed a dry mouthful of air. Thinking it over, he didn't know if Seirin could truly handle Kasai. Truth be told, he didn't know if anyone could.


	6. The Arson's Threes

**Friday, Seirin High School, 4:01 P.M.**

The four players of Kasai facing Shiki nodded their heads and simultaneously sprinted to completely new spots on the court. Before Hyuuga could even blink his eyes, Charlie had dashed away from her position in the center of Kasai's side of the court. She stopped so that her heel was against the end line, a single step from going out of bonds and being in line with Shiki, who had gone from his spot underneath the basket to the left side of the end line. Her body was still faced down to the other side of the court.

"Hyuuga, get on Charlie!" Riko yelled, but it was already too late.

Shiki released the ball, but it didn't go to Charlie like everyone at Seirin had expected. Instead, it went diagonally across the court to the short forward Kuroko had been in charge of defending before the Kasai players exploded to new spots. Kuroko attempted to get back on his mark, who had run to the edge of the center circle, but he wasn't fast enough. The ball reached the short forward's hands and left it for the next teammate in the formation, Charlie.

Confusion raced through Seirin as Kasai sent the ball back to where it had pretty much started from. Kasai's paces were lightning fast, almost like Kuroko's, but the longer they delayed their counterattack, the longer Seirin had to match back up with their loose marks.

Charlie curled her fingers around the ball and swayed her head side-to-side. She picked out her open teammate and sent the ball back up the court to Kasai's shooting guard. Izuki was unable to reach the shorter player in time and could only watch in confusion as his opponent shot the ball straight across the court towards Chris.

Kagami's eyes widened as he realized the shape of the passing pattern Kasai was executing. He hadn't noticed in time to stop the star shape Kasai made and passed in, but now that it was up for the last point in their star, Chris, Kagami only had to stop him. Then Kasai's momentum would be broken and their complicated techniques futile.

"No, you don't!" Kagami yelled as he raced at the Arson boy.

Kagami reached his hand out to try to knock the pass away, but he was too far away. Though that had been the easy way to break the star, Kagami knew that as soon as Chris had the ball in his hands and dribbled towards the vacant half of the court that held Kasai's basket, he'd be able to stop him in no time. Their distance was almost closed, and Kagami would make sure Kasai failed.

The pass arrived to Chris, and Kagami anticipated the boy to take a step forward. However, the blondy tilted his head to the running Kagami, a smile on his face, and then he carelessly threw the ball to his left. It tumbled out of his hand and bounced once in the open center of the court, and Kagami wondered if Chris had meant to do such a reckless move when all the closest players to the ball were in white jerseys, not red.

Kuroko shot forward to hit the ball back to Hyuuga, but a blurred figure shot out from nowhere and dribbled right past him.

"What the—" Kagami said, watching the blur continue forward.

Three feet into its crazy race to the basket, the blur became definable as Charlie Arson. She blazed past all of Kasai's players, and as Seirin went to chase her down before she could replicate Kagami's dunk, she stopped at the three-point line, a tad bit off-center. The ball she sent at the basket was flawless. The arch. The speed. The hushed swooshing of the net as it sped through it and signaled Kasai was now in the lead by one point.

Charlie stared at the ball as it rolled away from the basket for a silent moment before turning back towards the nine other players on the court. She was smiling, and she began to trace back to her mark: Hyuuga.

"What was that?" Koga asked from the bench.

Riko was staring at Charlie and the rest of Kasai with wide eyes. How? The formation had been so sudden, so quick, and so efficient. The ball touched the hands of each player from Kasai, but not a single one of Seirin's players had been able to stop the lightning fast play. Riko knew that now that her team knew the Fire Star Formation, Kasai wouldn't be able to use it again for the rest of the game. Seirin had also gotten a glimpse at Charlie's true speed, and they had reacted perfectly by having Kiyoshi guard her even more closely now.

Kasai had showed its hand too early, and Riko could only hope they didn't have any aces up their sleeves.

"That play was amazing," Kiyoshi said.

"We'll have to get them back," was all Hyuuga said in response.

Izuki tracked back for the ball and had no trouble in handing it off to Kagami, who wasn't being as tightly marked by Chris.

Kagami spun around with the ball and found Chris standing in front of him. The American boy gave Kagami enough room the make a move and get past him. Kagami began to bounce the ball on the floor and watched as Chris's hands clenched tighter every time the ball hit the ground.

'_He's waiting for me to go_,' Kagami thought.

"Hey!" Kagami yelled. "Don't think I'm going to be reckless or anything."

Kagami then sent the ball off to his right side, and Kuroko appeared from his peripheral. He punched the ball forward, straight into Kiyoshi's hands. Kiyoshi had Charlie on his back in a flash, and he sent the ball at Hyuuga.

"Go for the three!" Kiyoshi yelled.

Hyuuga nodded his head and jumped for the three-pointer. One of Kasai's other players jumped with him, but Hyuuga darted up and released the ball quickly. It spun forward, not nearly as nice of a shot as Charlie's, but it swirled around the rim of the basket before falling through to total Seirin's points to five.

Kagami smiled as Kasai fell under Seirin again, and Chris frowned.

"Next time, don't think I'd do something stupid like charge forward when I have my teammates to pass to," Kagami said as he leaned close to defend Chris. "I win with my team, not by myself."

Chris turned away from Kagami and pressed his back into the red-headed boy. Kagami couldn't see it, but Chris's frown had swiftly adjusted back to an excited smile.

Charlie got the ball at the end line and surveyed the court as she looked for someone to pass to.

"That's what makes us different," Chris muttered.

"Huh?" Kagami asked, but Chris had taken two steps forward.

"Charlie, ball!"

Charlie's reactions were catlike. When Chris had called her name, she had been staring at Shiki, indecisive over whether to risk passing to him when Kiyoshi was right on his back or not. As soon as her brother's voice reached her ears, though, she had snapped her head directly at him and threw the ball.

Chris got the ball and spun on Kagami like Kagami had just done to him not more than thirty seconds ago. Chris tossed the ball to the ground and opposite hand and back all over again.

Kagami took a daring step forward and broke Chris's tedious dribbling.

Chris extended his foot out and sent the ball between his opened legs. Kagami had seen this plenty of times and went to properly defend the move when Chris added on to his movements. Instead of charging forward with the limited space he had created with his move, he used his hand to swing the ball back around his back, his shoulder blades moving at grotesque angles. The ball arrived back in his starting hand, and Chris took off for the side Kagami wasn't leaning towards.

Kagami was able to chase Chris down, but Chris began his flashy movements again. Chris kept going forward, and Kagami kept on defending until the two boys were even on the three-point line Charlie had just scored from a minute ago. Sweat was dripping down both of their faces, and their breaths came out in dry heaves. Neither of them were exhausted, not yet, but the intensity the game had started with hadn't died down. Both of them were pumping with excitement, both ready to come out leading the first quarter.

Chris slowed down his dribble, and his teammates on his left and right were screaming for the ball. Kuroko's mark was a little far away from the blue-haired boy, and Kagami knew that passing to him would be the smartest decision.

But Chris was looking to prove a point, so he jumped for the three-pointer.

Kagami grit his teeth as he soared into the air, easily overcoming Chris's body. There was no physically possible way for the ball to get past him.

Chris didn't feel threatened by Kagami's towering presence and took his shot. Kagami yelled as he outstretched his arms even more, and he waited for the ball to slam into his skin.

However, the shot Chris took was one he had recently mastered this week, and it was something Kagami and everyone else of Seirin had yet to ever see.

Chris's ball began rotating backwards, as if the backspin on the ball was going to send it all the way to the other basket. Kagami tried to lean over Chris without fowling him to get the ball. He successfully avoided the Arson boy as he returned back to the ground and almost got his fingers on the backwards ball when it changed directions completely.

The ball continued to soar, but now, mere centimeters away from Kagami's fingertips, it changed its backwards direction so it began to go forward to the proper net. The sudden change of direction blazed past Kagami's hands, and the ball cascaded through the air in a ridiculous arc before swooshing through the net.

That was when Seirin understood how insane the Arson siblings, Charlie with her speed and plays and Chris with his moves and shots, truly were.


	7. Kasai's Secret

**Friday, Seirin High School, 3:19 P.M.**

"Kise!" Momoi exclaimed as she saw her attractive childhood friend exit his taxi. "You made it!"

Kise handed a wad of cash to the taxi driver and closed the door. He turned to Momoi with a grand smile. "Hello, Momoicchi! I'm sorry I'm so late. The traffic was crazy."

"It's okay, Kise-kun. I just got here, too." Momoi looked down at her watch and frowned. "We probably missed the first half."

"Eh," Kise said, shrugging, "that couldn't be too bad. Seirin comes out strong, but they only get stronger throughout the game."

"What about Kasai?" Momoi asked, curious about the other team. Touou would have to play them soon enough, and it was up to her to get some usable information. All she knew so far was that they had two recent transfers from America, the Arson brothers. They were the reason why Kasai had come from nowhere and defeated Kaijō.

"Against us, Kasai was pumped up the whole game," Kise said, remembering the extreme stamina of Kasai. "They never skipped a beat, even for the short time when we were beating them."

Momoi nodded her head and stored that in her mind. "Okay! Let's go."

The two ex-members of Teiko Middle School went up to the gym. Once reaching it, Kise kindly opened the door to Seirin's gym for Momoicchi, and after she slipped in, he was quick to follow. The moment the door closed behind him, the ref at the center of the court blew his whistle and signaled the end of the first half of Seirin's game with Kasai. Kise's eyes swiftly found the hand-run score at a fold-out table set up on the side of the court.

Kise felt his throat hitch as he took in the score. "No way."

Momoi followed his gaze and saw a ten-point different between the teams. Kasai had 43 points, and Seirin had 53. Seirin was winning!

"Kise, how far apart were your and Kasai's score at half?" Momoi asked.

The lightness in Momoi's voice had flown away, and Kise realized the pink-haired girl had turned professional. The extensive brain of hers that withheld all the information she had on other teams was at work.

"At half, they were ahead by two points," Kise said. He thought back to how Charlie Arson had made a buzzer-beater three-pointer, putting Kasai in the lead at the last possible second. Though it had been an amazing shot, Chris pulled Charlie off to the side and began to yell at his sister for missing a rebound at the beginning of the second quarter.

As Kasai grouped together and went to their locker room, Kise and Momoi simultaneously spotted Charlie Arson's auburn hair. Momoi's eyes drew together in confusion as she took in the sweat-covered girl before them. Meanwhile, Kise felt goosebumps cover his arms. He pulled down the sleeves of his shirt to hide them from Momoicchi.

"Who is the girl on Kasai?" Momoi asked.

"Oh, that's Charlie Arson."

"What!" Momoi exclaimed. She looked over the six-foot girl and quickly saw that this girl appeared to be capable of incredible things. "How? Where's Chris."

"Chris is the only blond," Kise said, pointing his finger at Chris as he slipped into the locker room.

Momoi barely got a look at the Arson siblings before they were gone. She was already itching to see them play against her beloved Kuroko-kun and Seirin.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to get some water, Momoicchi," Kise said.

Kise started walking to the door the two of them had just gone through when Momoi whipped out her hand and tenderly grabbed his wrist. "Kise?"

"Yes?" Kise asked, looking at his ex-manager.

Momoi's serious gaze snapped back into a giddy smile. "Can you get me a water, too?"

Kise nodded his head, and Momoi let go of his wrist.

"Before you go, I want to warn you: don't try to meet with Kuroko-kun. However he's playing right now is obviously working for Seirin, seeing you may mess with him."

Kise nodded again. "Don't worry, Momoicchi! I want Kurokocchi to do his best."

Anything to help Seirin keep their lead on Kasai, even if that meant temporarily siding with his enemies.

Kise left the gym and rounded the large structure so he was inside Seirin's hallways. Seirin High had already gotten out of school, so the hallways were empty. Kise was secretly relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with any of his fangirls that could've possibly attended Kurokocchi's school.

Kise passed by the boys' locker room, and he could hear Seirin's female coach talking. The door between Kise and Seirin's basketball team muffled the voices inside. Kise only paused for a moment before continuing down the hallway in search of a vending machine.

At last, a little beyond the girls' locker room, Kise located two vending machines. One for drinks and the other for snacks. Kise pulled out his money and put it into the drink machine. He thought about how many times Murasakibara emptied a whole vending machine to get all the snacks inside and smiled. He hadn't seen the giant, purple-head for a while.

The first water bottle rolled out from the machine, and as Kise pressed the keypad for another, the door to the girls' locker room slammed open.

Kise heard their voices before he saw them.

"Dammit, Charlie!"

The voice had belonged to Chris Arson.

Kise didn't know why, but he had the impulse that he should hide behind the vending machines. He followed his instincts and made a grab for the second water before ducking to the right of the vending machine.

"You're the reason we're losing right now," Chris continued.

Kise stuck his head out from behind the vending machine and looked at the scene before him. His eyebrow rose as he tried to understand why Chris had Charlie pinned against the wall, his elbow pressing into her throat. Kasai's captain was standing next to them, his arms folded across his chest.

"How is it my fault?" Charlie exclaimed. She had her hands pressed against her brother's chest. "They're good. I can't do anything about that."

A vein was popping out on Chris's temple as he continued to yell. "You keep losing your mark!"

"He keeps disappearing!" Charlie yelled back. She used her immense arm strength to shove Chris off of her. "How about you try marking him? I'm sure you'd do worse than me."

Chris stumbled back from Charlie's shove, and his eyes began to angrily twitch. "What?"

Charlie lowered her voice. "Let's just go back in the locker room."

"Don't try to get out of this," Charlie shouted.

Kise watched in horror as Chris darted back towards his sister. The Arson brother brought his knee up and used a hand to pull his sister into a powerful knee to her gut.

Charlie gasped from the hit and fell to her knees. Kise thought that Shiki would try to stop Chris before he did something else, but the captain only grinned as Chris brought back a fist and punched Charlie across her cheek.

Chris wound back up to hit her again when Kise leaped out from the vending machine.

"STOP!" he yelled.

Chris and Shiki turned their heads to the intruder and were shocked to find the pretty boy from the Generation of Miracles standing next to the vending machine, a water bottle in each of his hands.

"You," Shiki spat. "Why are you here?"

Kise pointed an accusing finger at Kasai's captain. "Why aren't you stopping him?"

Charlie looked up and whipped some blood off her mouth. She got to her feet and turned to Kise.

"Ryōta-kun, you should leav—"

Charlie was cut off short by her brother slamming his fist into her shoulder. She staggered backwards, holding her shoulder as tears formed in her eyes.

"Chris, why are you hurting your sister?" Kise asked. "Don't you want her to play better next half?"

Chris smirked at Kise's comment and brought his elbow down on Charlie's forehead. She yelped in pain and grabbed at the place he had hit. Falling to the ground, her face was obscured from Kise's sight.

"She'll play better next half," Shiki said for Chris. "This is her punishment for doing so poorly first half."

Kise didn't know how to respond. It was terrible enough that players were harming another, but it was between siblings. Kise wanted to stop them, but someone was already on their way to do it.

The door to the locker room opened again, revealing Kasai's coach. He didn't look to see Kise. All he said was, "That's enough" before returning to the locker room.

Chris pouted as saw his coach disappear. He reached over and pulled Charlie up by her ponytail. Standing up, she dropped her hands, and Kise saw blood covered her face. The spot on her head Chris had hit was oozing blood.

"Gross," Chris muttered, throwing Charlie back to the door.

"Wa-wait!" Kise called, but Chris forced Charlie into the locker room.

Shiki stayed out a moment longer and glared at Kise. "Keep that mouth of yours shut, Pretty Boy."

Then Shiki disappeared with the Arson siblings.

Kise swallowed a dry breath. His whole body was trembling as he tried to understand what had just happened. He knew keeping his mouth quiet on the subject was impossible. The first thing he had to do was get back to Momoicchi and tell her about the Arson scenario. Maybe she'd know what to do.

Kise sprinted back the way he came and arrived at Momoicchi's side in a minute. She smiled as he handed over her water, but she grew worried as she saw his terrified look.

"What's wrong, Kise-kun?"

Kise saw a flash of Charlie standing with blood on her face in the back of his mind and shivered.

"The Arsons and Kasai."


	8. Charlie's Rage

**Friday, Seirin High School, 3:30 P.M.**

"Let's go, Seirin!" Kiyoshi called as the starters returned back to the court. Seirin had a ten-point lead on Kasai, and Riko had been appeased during halftime. She had told the boys to fix only a few minimal things and strictly directed Kuroko to keep using his misdirection passes so long as Seirin didn't catch onto them.

After realizing Kuroko was indeed a valuable player, Charlie switched marks and was forced to watch over him for the rest of the first half. She had stolen several balls, but Kuroko still kept up his misdirection passes, giving perfect balls for Kagami to dunk or Hyuuga to shoot. She had gotten angry with herself, but worse than that had been her teammates, specifically her brother and Shiki. The coach had to tell Chris to calm down after he screamed at Charlie when Kuroko had sneaked out from behind her and sent a ball to Kiyoshi.

Kuroko went back on the court, and when the teams lined up for the tip-off, he realized that his mark had switched again. This time, he had Chris to deal with.

"Do you see them?" Kagami asked.

Kuroko turned his head away from the towering Arson brother to his teammate. "Who?"

Kagami pointed to two figures standing at the entrance of the gym. Both of them were holding waters, but neither of them looked like how they usually did. Momoi and Kise looked somber, their eyes widened in shock and their lips turned downwards. To begin with, their appearance at the Seirin vs Kasai game surprised Kuroko, but it was their expressions that set off the awful feeling he had had in his gut before the game.

The ref's whistle brought Kuroko's focus back to the court, and he turned just in time to see Charlie Arson snap into the air with incredible speed, knocking the ball back to Kasai before Kiyoshi could lay a finger on the ball.

As Kiyoshi came back down, he saw there were new marks on the girl's face. A bandage was wrapped around her forehead, but blood could be seen seeping through it already. On her cheek, a purplish hue was flooding underneath her skin, and her bottom lip had swollen up.

'_Did we do that to her?_' Kiyoshi questioned himself. '_I don't remember her every getting hurt._'

Charlie made quick eye contact with Kiyoshi, and he also noticed that her luminous green eyes had died out. The light beneath them had been extinguished.

Charlie snapped away from Kiyoshi and opened her arms for the ball to return to her hands. Kiyoshi had been so thrown off by Charlie's new appearance that he hadn't been able to apply the close defense needed against an Arson sibling. Seeing the open space, Charlie did a quick turn, faking left then going right, and began to drive down the court.

"Charlie!" Chris screamed from the left. "Ball!"

Charlie didn't spare the time to look to her brother, who, as she had already guessed, was marked by the small blue boy from Seirin. The same boy that had caused her so much trouble in the first half.

Charlie spoke as she dribbled. "I won't be beat this time."

Kagami tore free from his own mark as he realized Charlie was willing to take the ball all the way up to the basket. He sprinted in front of her, forcing her to stop her mad race for the net. She bent low and stared down Seirin's ace.

Though Kagami didn't expect to see the bloody and bruised Charlie in front of him, it didn't faze his close defense. He took a step forward and waited to see if Charlie would pull some move to get around him like her brother did.

Kagami heard Charlie as she slowed her dribbling down. "I have to be better!"

As Kagami parted his legs to lurch forward for the ball, Charlie used both hands to throw the ball down at the ground with mighty purpose. Kagami's eyes followed the ball as it slammed in between his legs and returned back into the air after clearing his crotch. He turned his body around to survey the ball as it bounced away from him.

"What?" Kagami exclaimed. How had the ball gone through his legs, and how was Charlie already around him with the ball back in her hands?

He needed to get back. Fast.

To begin with, Charlie had always been faster than her brother, but now, as her forehead thrummed with violent pain, she sped towards the basket at a speed not even Kasai had seen her use before.

Kagami was a footstep away from her when she leaped towards the basket. She yelled as she passed Kiyoshi, who had attempted to reach up and block her, and slammed the ball in.

Charlie released her grip on the basket and crashed back down to the floor. Her fingers clenched in fists, and as she walked back to get on defense, a heated growl escaped her lips.

Kagami wasn't afraid of any basketball player, but Charlie's scowl, enhanced by her bruises and bandage, could've scared off most. As she passed him by, Kagami expected her to make some crude comment like Chris had a tendency to do, but he shockingly realized that her anger wasn't directed at Kagami or anyone else on Seirin. She was looking at her brother.

Chris smirked at his sister' stage. "There's the Charlie we need."

Charlie cracked her knuckles and turned away from her brother. She placed her hand on Kagami's back and pressed her boy against his, keeping up an extremely close mark. There was no way he was going to get the ball from Kiyoshi now.

"Kiyoshi!" Izuki called, dashing away from Shiki.

Kiyoshi sent the ball at Izuki, and Seirin's point guard used his hawk eye to turn and give off the ball to what looked like Chris. Just as Izuki expected, Kuroko appeared from virtually nowhere smacked the ball forward to Kagami, who stood close to the basket.

Kagami got a good grip on the ball and saw he was close enough to get back the two points Charlie had gained. He jumped in the air and positioned his hands for the shot when a flash of auburn appeared beneath him.

"Go, Kagami!" Seirin's bench yelled as Charlie followed Kagami bound into the air.

"No," Charlie whispered under her breath.

Kagami went to jump as high as he could to make sure to avoid the female Arson's hands, but before he could reach his stupendous peak, Charlie flew through the air like a rocket. She leaned forward and smacked the ball out of Kagami's grip and down to the ground, as if she were spiking a volleyball.

The ball spun out of bounds, and Kagami came back down to the floor seconds after she had already done so.

Seirin's bench gaped at Charlie. Koga asked, "How could someone jump higher than Kagami when being shorter?"

Riko pursed her lips. "She didn't jump higher than him."

The heads lining Seirin's bench turned from Charlie to their coach.

"What?" they asked collectively.

"Kagami hadn't gotten that high," Riko explained. "He was on his way to reaching the climax of his jump, which is when he shoots. However, Charlie is faster at getting into the air, and she was able to get to the ball first. This prevents his high jump shot."

"Do you mean Kagami's shot is useless against Charlie?"

Riko nodded her head. "But I don't understand why she didn't do it in the first half."

Back on the court, Hyuuga ran to retrieve the still rolling ball when Charlie faced Kagami. Her eyes were turned to the floor, but her fingers remained in large fists.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Huh?" Kagami asked, confused. There was no way she was apologizing for stopping his shot. She wasn't like to apologetic mushroom from Touou that said 'sorry' after making an excellent three-pointer.

Charlie loosened one of her fists and pressed the open hand against the bandage wrapped around her skull. "I don't want them to hurt me anymore." Snapping her head up, Charlie stared at Kagami with tear-filled eyes. "So, I have to defeat you!"


	9. To Win or Lose?

**Friday, Seirin High School, 3:40 P.M.**

72-60. That was the score at the end of the 3rd quarter, but this time around, Kasai was winning.

Kuroko walked off the court, covered in a thick layer of sweat and heavily panting. He tried to control his exhaustion as he took in Kise and Momoi standing next to Seirin's bench. The two of them were in deep conversation with Riko, who had her back to the team.

"What are they doing here?" Hyuuga asked. He looked down at Kuroko. "Did you tell them about the game?"

Kuroko shook his head.

Hyuuga picked up his speed, turning his walk to a jog, and he came to his coach's side.

Staring down Kise, Hyuuga asked, "What do you want?"

Kise attempted to smile, but the blond of the Generation of Miracles couldn't find any joy to show-off. "Hello, Hyuuga."

"I asked you a question," Hyuuga said.

Riko looked from Momoi and gave Hyuuga a dark look. "Get on the bench. Now."

Hyuuga knew by her tone that he had no place in the group and darted to the bench. Kiyoshi already had an extra water in his hand for Seirin's captain, a smile on his face.

"Why are they here?" Kiyoshi asked.

Hyuuga shrugged his weary shoulders. "Coach didn't tell me."

Kiyoshi looked over Hyuuga's head and saw Riko turning away from Momoi and Kise. The two outsiders didn't leave their spots near Seirin's bench, but they didn't come closer as Riko came to stand in front of the boys.

"We have something important to talk about," she stated roughly.

"Is it about Charlie?" Izuki asked.

Riko felt her skin tingle as she thought of what Kise had just said to her. Nodding her head, she said, "Yeah, kind of, but not in basketball terms."

The team looked at their coach in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Kagami asked.

"If you guys haven't noticed, Charlie has gotten exceptionally stronger since the first half," Riko began. "Kagami's shots are useless against her, and with her speed and excellent read of the court, she is able to disrupt our quick passes and get a counterattack. We've swiftly lost control of this game."

The team nodded their heads, and Hyuuga asked, "What should we do about it?"

Riko looked over to Kasai's bench and saw Charlie was at the very edge. She was paying no attention to her coach's talk and instead applied a new bandage to her forehead. Riko had no idea how she could still be conscious and playing as well as she was with having lost so much blood.

"The choice is up to yours," Riko said, watching Charlie's grimace as she touched the bruise on her cheek.

Riko didn't notice the flood of confused basketball players in front of her as she continued to watch one of the best basketball players Seirin ever played try to heal the wounds her brother and teammate inflicted on her. It made her angry and upset. A team was supposed to be hard on each other, but there was no place for physical violence. Kirisaki Daiichi had been awful enough by trying to harm their opponents, but this seemed so much worse. Internal conflict within a team was a shameful thing to have.

"What does that mean?" Kiyoshi asked.

Riko at last left the admirable female basketball player on Kasai and looked down at her team. "There's something about Kasai that makes this game more complex than I'd ever want."

Kagami looked down at Kuroko and raised an eyebrow. Had the pipsqueak been right when he had said he had a bad feeling before the game?

"What is it?" Hyuuga demanded.

Riko tried to think of an easy way to reveal Charlie's situation to the team, but no words could hide the sheer awfulness behind Kasai and their abuse. She decided to copy how Momoi and Kise had told her.

"During halftime, Kise went to get something from the vending machines. On his way, he ran into… something terrible."

Hyuuga's eyes narrowed. "What was it?"

Riko tried to steady her breath as she continued. "Kise said that when he started to head back, Shiki and the Arson siblings had emerged from their locker room. Chris started beating up Charlie, and Shiki only watched the scene in approval. Kise tried to stop them, but it was the coach that ceased the abuse when he called the three back in."

All the members on Seirin felt like the AC had suddenly blasted on in the gym. Kagami tightened his fists and looked down to Charlie as she successfully taped her new bandage to her forehead.

"Are you sure Kise isn't lying?" Hyuuga asked.

"Yes," Kuroko said for Riko. "Kise-kun wouldn't make up a story like that."

Hyuuga grit his teeth as he tried to imagine the situation Kise had witnessed. Hitting a teammate? A sibling? That was unforgivable! And why had Charlie let them? She looked beyond capable of fighting back with her immense strength that made her the ace of Kasai.

Kagami got up from his seat in a rush of anger and began to walk for Kasai's bench. Kuroko was quick to reach out his hand and grab the larger red-head by the back of his shirt. With meager force, the pale blue boy brought Kagami back a step.

"Don't," Kuroko warned.

"Why not?" Kagami yelled. "They are hurting a teammate? If you think it's okay for us to sit aside when that happens then you're crazy!"

"Kagami-kun," Riko began. "I know this is hard to take in. It was for me, too. But we can't do anything until the game is over."

Kagami grit his teeth. "Why? Why would they hurt her?"

Out of nowhere, Kise appeared behind Seirin's bench. His hands were the pockets of his recently pressed pants, and the dark look in his eyes had yet to disappear.

"Chris and Shiki agreed that she was the reason why they were losing," the blond boy muttered. "They were 'punishing' her for not playing well."

"But she's the best player on the team!" Kagami exclaimed. "She's the reason their winning."

"And if they don't win," Kise said, his voice extremely low, "imagine what would happen to her then."

Kagami felt an electric bolt shoot down his spine as he realized the fact Kise pointed out.

Kiyoshi looked to Riko with wide eyes. "What should we do?"

Riko bit her lip. "I honestly don't know."

Hyuuga looked down to Kasai's bench. All of the members had gotten up from the group meeting to prepare for the last quarter, but through the several bodies, he picked out Charlie looking to her shoes. Chris was in front of her, and by the agitated look in his face, he still seemed upset by the score. If they were winning by this much and Chris wasn't satisfied, then how mad had he been at their game against Kaijō when Kasai had only won by a single point.

He stopped his morbid thoughts before they could become more vivid. He didn't want Charlie to suffer anymore, but there was any other way to save her from her own teammates without purposely losing the game?

Kiyoshi ended the bench's silence.

"We have to win."

"Are you serious?" Kagami asked. "Do you want Chris to hurt her more?"

Kiyoshi, with his grandiose smile unapparent, turned to Kagami and shook his head. "If we win, I have a plan. If we lose, it probably won't be successful."

Kagami and the rest of Seirin leaned forward. "What's the plan?" Kagami asked.

The ref standing in the center of the court blew his whistle. "Seirin, please hurry! Kasai has already taken the court."

Kiyoshi got up from his seat as every pair of eyes on Seirin, including Kise and Momoi's as well, bore into him. They were all waiting for his solution to the problem that lay ahead of them.

"Win," Kiyoshi repeated. "Then you'll see."

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get up this chapter. School has been insane and I have a chem test tomorrow but I really felt bad, though I doubt many people make it this far into the story lol. Thanks for reading! Leave reviews (if you feel up to it bro)


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